Superintendents speak against funding formula

Coalition members air grievances at state budget hearing

GRANITE CITY — Superintendents representing more than 35,000 students met in Granite City recently to demand the Illinois State Board of Education take a stand against the state’s current school funding formula.

The superintendents and district representatives were part of the Funding Illinois’ Future coalition who met with Illinois State Board of Education representatives at a state budget hearing in Granite City. According to Southwestern School District Superintendent Brad Skertich, the school currently has the most regressive school funding in the state. He said the Illinois State Board of Education has yet to take a stance in the matter.

“Clear and common sense solutions are on the table, but no position has been taken by the State Board of Education nor has there been any action taken by our legislators,” Skertich said in a news release. “This leads me to wonder… do Southwestern students matter?”

Skertich also wondered if the other students represented at the hearing mattered to the Illinois State Board of Education. Besides Southwestern, several Metro East districts had members in attendance including: Alton, East St. Louis, Granite City, Cahokia, Taylorville, Collinsville, Pana, Carlinville, Jacksonville and Harrisburg. Skertich said the current funding formula robs from impoverished downstate districts and takes little from wealthy districts.

“We get 55 percent of our budget from the state,” Skertich said. “The state is pro-rating 11 percent of 55 percent of our budget. That’s an astronomical amount for us.”

According to Skertich, the amount taken from Southwestern students is as much as $498 a student. In districts with more money, he said the current rate of state pro-ration would eliminate less than $100 a student. Such a funding formula would deprive students already most in need from state funding, which can lead to desperate measures from districts.

“Over the past five years, pro-ration paired with an inequitable funding formula, has amounted to over $3 million in lost funding for Southwestern,” Skertich said. “As a result, elementary buildings have been restructured to reduce costs, buildings have been closed, class sizes have increased, staff reduced and parent groups contribute over $50,000 a year to offset classroom and extra-curricular costs.”

Current measures taken by school districts including massive borrowing through bonds, restructuring of attendance centers and drastic program cuts, are starting to look commonplace in the current environment, Skertich noted.

“One of the key things of this happening is the public being aware of it,” he said. “People are becoming numb to the extreme measures districts are taking. We need to take the proper steps to do what’s right for all kids.”

Reporter Cory Davenport can be reached at (618) 208-6447 or on Twitter @CoryTelegraphs.